'Tis the season

Toward the end of the year we all tend to reflect. Sometimes the inner dialogue can be bruising.

Self: “Well, it’s month 12, what precisely have you accomplished this year?”

Self to self: “I don’t like your tone.”

Sometimes we go through a mental list of high points. Remembering the peaks of reward, good times and laughs had, almost like a highlights reel of a sports match valiantly played and won.

I inhabit a mixture of the two sprinkled with a healthy dose of looking forward. You know the mantras – “Next year will be MY YEAR!”

“NEXT YEAR will be one for the books putting all others to shame!

Hubris and caprice of my future life aside, the present leaves me with enough to ponder. One of the many gifts this year has brought me, in one word is grit. Just that.

Grit. A necessary of being present living in this moment not looking back with distaste or looking forward to unknown magic. It takes grit to handle what’s right in front of you whether it’s beautiful or not…with stamina whether you have energy or not…with perseverance whether you have the strength or not. Combine all that with trademarked passion known only to the possessor because of that thing, that fire, that want to, whether anyone else understands it or not.

Yes, grit. The present of the presence.

Living well in my estimation means development of character, testing of that character setting your values and living by them, discarding those that don’t serve you and adding others as you transition, moment to moment, day to day, month after month charging forward, hiding, eating, laughing, growing, resting, dancing, despairing, accomplishing, failing and getting up again - present.

Happy New Year.